Tag Archives: GQ bar night at Olive

Pictures! Pictures! GQ’s bar night got the glitterati willing to sweat like horses (and around them) all for a chance to rub shoulders with Gerard Butler on Wednesday night!

Gregory David

Karishma Tanna

Gregory Gerard and Anthony

Pratima Bhatia

Raja Dodhy

RJ Tarana

Amrit Maghera

Srinivasan Jain

Che Kurien

Shruti Sharma

Yash and Avanti Birla

Ashwin Deo

Narendra Kumar and Chef Max

Yash Birla

Niketan Madhok

Ashish Raheja

Ramona and Bruno

Bunty Walia with wife

A.D. Singh

Gerard Butler

Gregory and the princess

Gautam Singhania and A.D. Singh

Gregory, Gerard and Anthony

And here’s the dope: Fantastic turnout. Hosted by AD Singh and Che Kurrien, the event saw the creme de la creme of the city. The highlight however was undoubtedly, Hollywood superstar Gerard Butler (of 300, Phantom of the Opera and Rock n Rolla fame.) Riding in on a motorcycle soon after Gerard was Gregory David Roberts (Shantaram) with wife, Princess(really?) Francoise Sturdza and the third unexpected guest of the evening was Anthony Mandler (renowned Hollywood Music Director known especially for his work with R&B artist Rihanna.) Other guests included Deveika and Suresh Bhojwani (recently spotted on their way back from Goa), Alex Kuruvilla, Gautam Singhania, Yash (that shirt)and Avanti Birla, Ashwin Deo, Raja Dhody, Niketan Madhok, Narendra Kumar, Farokh Chotia, Sreenivasan Jain, Ashish Raheja, Ananya Bannerjee, Pratima and Gaurav Bhatia and Ramona Narang and Bruno and several more from the fashion and entertainment fraternity were in attendance including RJ Tarana Raja Kapoor (love the cutesy half smile), Karishma Tanna, After Hours hostess Amrit Maghera, Shruti Sharma, Vipasha Aggarwal, Monikangana Dutta, Priya Reddy, Inder Bajwa and more. Others who were at the event included Farokh Chotia, Sreenivasan Jain, Ashish Raheja, Ananya Bannerjee, Pratima and Gaurav Bhatia and Ramona Narang and Bruno. The eclectic mix of people, surprise guests and the IPL and Football action enhanced by the GQ glam quotient made for an evening of devilishly haute fun. (Oh and the percussionist was the bomb.)

So GQ’s Wednesday Bar Night at Olive is turning out to be quite the hotspot! In fact I have to say I’m pretty impressed with how they manage to pull off stylish soirees on a regular basis without ever compromising on class (this also means they always have Redbull at the open bar which I truly appreciate.) Remember the launch party? That was super hip. Plus the magazine has had my heart throb Aamir Khan on the cover (with a pretty well crafted interview inside) and their first bar night was a roaring success. (Maxim eat your heart out. Although I had a conversation with Alex Kuruvilla yesterday and he pointed out that there was actually no magazine (in the same league) that really compares, I guess that’s fair. Its also true that guys actually read this stuff (when they’re not flipping through Cosmo that is) so they’re clearly on to something.

In a blur of heat (and the distinct aroma of horses) I spotted Gerard Butler (remember I told you he was in town?) While the boys commented (with some degree of satisfaction) that “he really isn’t as jacked as he looks in 300″ he spent most of his night getting oodles of attention from members of the female persuasion (and clearly loving every minute of it.) Tarana Raja Kapoor had a funny exchange with him about having dubbed for the Queen in the Hindi version of 300 to which he replied with a snarky “So how was I in bed in the Hindi version?” Another popular face at the party turned out to be good ‘ol Shantaram Gregory David Roberts who flashed me a friendly smile unlike the slightly grumpier Mr. Butler! Amrit Maghera pulled of the whole “barbie” ensemble with a straight face and managed her first Hollywood scoop for After Hours with a satisfied grin on her face, (Nina Manuel’s stilettos can’t have been easy to fill!)Meanwhile Narendra Kumar Ahmed looked like he’s been working out although he kept joking with me that he was just holding his stomach in. (Man if you could teach some of us girls to do that we’d never work out!) Uday Benegal also appeared out of nowhere much to the delight of some long time fans and friends and Bandana Tewari zipped around with the kind of dynamite energy I’m praying to God I still possess post parenthood!

Not like I was saving the best for last but just when you thought (based on his relatively normal attire at the last GQ bar night)that Yash Birla had finally retired his futuristic wardrobe and any moment now was gonna do a big fat “gotcha!” on the paparazzi (who remain mystified but trigger happy) perhaps even admitting that he had been kidding all along he shows up in this psychadelic tee shirt which could possible be the ugliest shirt in the world. Challengers?

Last night was a blast. Although it started out just being plain funny. Fosters threw a swanky soiree at the Four Seasons featuring a bunch of Australian designers. Now at this point we were all blissfully unacquainted with the manic emcee (who’s name I recently discovered is Mansi Bhohal and who’s high pitched voice I will never forget) and were giggling over the collections titled “Hussy” and “Subfusco” (what is “fusco” and what then would make something sub-fusco sort of thing.) Anyway, from the fairly amateur models that stomped and stuttered down the runway it was pretty obvious all the seasoned sashay-ers were still in Delhi for Fashion Week and we were witnessing the B lot. (Although the one odd model was pretty enough, there was something definitely askew about most of them.)

Then of course we had our Zoolander moment when one spunky male model did an entire bump & grind down the ramp never dropping his “blue steel” expression even for a second. (I have to say it takes either very brave or very brazen men to wear some of the short shorts on display in Kooey’s “Hello Summer” collection.)

Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan and friends

Meenakshi waves

I spotted the clever young Indian novelist Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan (trust me and read her book, “You Are Here”) having a giggle in the front row with pals. She also shared my utter horror at the emcee who decided to impromptu interview Subfusco (who’s clothes apparently were lost in luggage land somewhere over the seven seas.) She rattled on about his absent collection (which I’m thinking she’s probably never seen) threw in a “wow friends” here and there and then decided to ask him the million dollar question; (which elicited a gasp of horror from the audience.) “So are you going to be inspired by India do you think? Like maybe the Taj Mahal orbeggars?”

(Ah Slumdog, the stories you’ll tell.)

Mansi Bhohal

Neetu Chandra and Archana Kochhar

Meanwhile Archana Kochhar commented that everything was going well expect for the disastrous lady with a microphone. Turns out the original emcee sprained her foot so couldn’t wear heels. (I think I ran into her at Cafe Goa on Tuesday, it was a apparently a stiletto related incident.)

Jessica Nicholas

Can’t say much for the pseudo Australian desi fashion but I quite liked the short choreographed instrumental interludes by Jessica Nicholas though.

Around 10:15pm we decided to hit the GQ Bar Night at Olive Mahalaxmi, Mumbai. Quite the glamorous turn out and I’m mystified at how they managed to keep the rif-raf out considering it was open bar and open house. (Now don’t judge me, I meant the droolers and shakers that love to cop a feel or down a freebie while scoping cleavage) FYI The gooseberry and strawberry capriocia’s were delish and the party seemed to be a roaring success (pictures to follow.)

Eventually though the rhythm is gonna get you and a fair amount of the GQ crew ended up at Zenzi in town (henceforth known as Zenzi Mills), Mumbai. It was of course salsa night and the waiters bopped along to the beat!